Brian's Sermons

(Note: The thoughts contained in this message and next week's come from   The Bait of Satan by John Bevere ) I grew up watching a lot of action movies. The general plot of every action movie in the mid to late 1980s was the same: bad guys do bad things. The good guy is usually reluctant but eventually is brought into the action, usually after something bad has happened to him, his friends, or his family. He is thus “forced” to come in and get revenge. There is something that just seems “right” about this kind of story. When we are wronged, we need justice. This is intentional; it is because God wired us this way. God made us in his own image, and our God is a God who requires justice; it is part of his Holy character. So when we desire justice, we are, at some level, reflecting God’s character. Unfortunately, going all Chuck Norris on someone is not what God had in mind. But the draw of these action movies is clear; most of us have been wronged at some point or anot...

The closer the person, the worse the pain.  There is nothing that hurts like the pain suffered at the hand of a friend or family member.  Have you ever been hurt?  Badly?  The kind of hurt that leaves scars for the rest of your life?   Today I want to tell you the painful story of Joe Jacobson ( yes, I took the name from Andy Stanley ). Imagine a middle eastern teenager, only 17 years old.  His brothers were tending their father’s sheep, and Joe’s dad, Jacob, sends him out to meet them to see if everything was well with them. Now you have to understand that Joe was his dad’s favorite and he had never exactly ingratiated himself with his brothers. He had already brought bad reports on them (basically tattled) and as the baby of the family, he was his father’s favorite.  And he had those dreams. Dreams where his brothers were worshiping him.  So anyway, he headed to find them.  When he got there, he found that they had moved on an additional...

Again and again he tries.  Each time, he knows he will succeed.  Though he’s failed every time in the past, this time will be different.  He approaches the ball… and it’s yanked out from under him.  Have you ever felt like Charlie Brown?  You’ve tried so hard, but things aren’t going like you expected them to go.  You didn’t plan them out this way? When I was entering the final quarter of my senior year of college, I had my life all planned out.  I was going to graduate college and get married.  Then I was going to continue my education at Indiana University, where I would get my master’s degree in Education, after which I would get a job, where I would teach high school German and coach soccer.  I had everything planned out. To make a long story short, things didn’t work out like I had planned. My fiancé and I broke up, and the last place I wanted to be was where she was, so I didn’t go to grad school.  Life didn’t turn out at all ...